Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

[zionstrat]

I've fallen back in love with my super thin neck, low action LP/SG and am thinking about a pickup swap-

No worries about impacting value- it's a player guitar- highly modified back in the 70s. Originally a special, it was routed for humbuckers (early dimarzio SDs), switched to a badass bridge, grover tuners etc.

So the only thing that's really vintage is the body and electronics and I and can bag the parts and return it 70s condition if I ever resell.

I love SGs for their cutting crunch and less thickness than a classic LP for tight, articulate rhythms- I play everything other than metal.

On to pickups, part of me would just love to hear the original p90 sound and am considering humbucker sized P90s-

• I imagine a slightly beefier than original p90 would be best- still relatively bright and snappy due to the nature of the SG, but darken up with crunch for blues and classic rock.

• If I go this direction, its hard to pass on trying the GFS mean 90s for the price and I hear great things about them. However, they stress 'Fatness' which makes me wonder if they are too overwound for classics P90 timbres?

• 
  I hear great things about Lollars, but they're probably out of my price range-

• 
  Not sure about the Phat Cat and would appreciate your experience in an SG.

In the opposite direction, I hear good things and bad things about PRails and would love your thoughts-

• I think an SG probably needs a little overwind on a p90 to add some thickness and I'm not clear where the p90s coil falls in the spectrum.
• It would also be so nice to have a little twang in the bridge from time to time and I wonder if the parallel setting is likely to provide this tone in an SG style guitar?- (For comparison, the super distortion is overkill in the bridge- I have to cut back the volume to avoid nasal brightness and overpowering the neck.)
• Guessing that the single coil would be useless in the bridge?
• Imagine that all tones could be nice in the neck, but again, I have limited experience with Prails.

So very open to ideas and would appreciate your thoughts!

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Bump


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[Mincer]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Phat Cats are wonderful in an SG, as are P-Rails/Triple Shot combo. With the P-Rails, there is always the choice of the Hot model, which will give you the extra crunch in there. The P-90 side of the P-Rail is probably the best sound in there, but that doesn't mean the other sounds are bad at all.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Phat Cats are wonderful in an SG, as are P-Rails/Triple Shot combo. With the P-Rails, there is always the choice of the Hot model, which will give you the extra crunch in there. The P-90 side of the P-Rail is probably the best sound in there, but that doesn't mean the other sounds are bad at all.

Thanks Mincer.... So how hot is the stock p90 in the bridge Prail vs the over wound? Can you imagine songs that demonstrate both sounds... Maybe Live at Leeds examples?

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[Mincer]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Live at Leeds sounds like a traditional P90 to me, not one that is overtly hot. A hot P90 might be more early Sabbath.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

I vote for some PAFs. At the risk of stating the obvious, it's a good match for that wood

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Live at Leeds sounds like a traditional P90 to me, not one that is overtly hot. A hot P90 might be more early Sabbath.

Ok, that really helps!

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[zionstrat]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

I vote for some PAFs. At the risk of stating the obvious, it's a good match for that wood

Great suggestion... That's where I am right now with the very early super distortions... The bridge is too bright and is unusable for clean sounds. I like some snap in a bridge for clean rhythm and it has none. I like the bridge to be articulate.

On the other end of the spectrum,I like a warm neck that is detailed and doesn't fuzz out with gain... If building an sg from scratch, I imagine a pearly gates bridge with a cool rail neck would do the trick, but it is routed for a humbucker. I hear a Jazz neck might fit the bill.

What hbs would you suggest?



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[jeremy]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

sounds like you just said that a jazz neck and pgb would be a good place to start

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Great suggestion... That's where I am right now with the very early super distortions... The bridge is too bright and is unusable for clean sounds. I like some snap in a bridge for clean rhythm and it has none. I like the bridge to be articulate.

On the other end of the spectrum,I like a warm neck that is detailed and doesn't fuzz out with gain... If building an sg from scratch, I imagine a pearly gates bridge with a cool rail neck would do the trick, but it is routed for a humbucker. I hear a Jazz neck might fit the bill.

What hbs would you suggest?

Not to sound like a smartass, but the only PAFs I have any experience are the real ones in my '62. Like Jeremy said, the PG bridge and Jazz neck might be a good start.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

A Sentient neck shop floor customized to ditch the black slugs and screws sounds pretty sick. It's like one day a Jazz up and decided it wanted to be a '59. It won't be a true PAF style pickup, however. It would pair pretty decent with a Screamin Demon bridge, hidden under a gold cover. The good thing about this set is when people marvel about your '62 SG, you can tell them the names of your pickups. The Sentient and SD are the most misunderstood pickups Seymour Duncan has to offer.

Or you could go for a set of Seth Lovers. That's always an excellent option.

 

[SavageRiffer]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

You sound like one of those guys who'd be happy with a set of Saturday Night Specials.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

You sound like one of those guys who'd be happy with a set of Saturday Night Specials.

Just about everyone would be happy with a set of Saturday Night Specials.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Great input, and very interesting how fast the thread focused on humbuckers... Considering sg style thinness, it certainly makes sense.

I'll read up on all suggestions... Lots of experience with slovers... None with Saturday nights...

Appreciate comparisons!

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[Wattage]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

I find hot P-90's to be more Thorogood to Mike Ness unless specifically setting the phasers to stun

Yeah you push them to Iommi levels but if you're not setup with a Metal rig they're not going there on their own.

Phat Cats are too soft sounding to me, GFS pickups have been a complete let down in my experience. I'd look for some kind of adapter and go with Gibson P-90's or Just go with P-94's from Gibson.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

A Sentient neck shop floor customized to ditch the black slugs and screws sounds pretty sick. It's like one day a Jazz up and decided it wanted to be a '59. It won't be a true PAF style pickup, however. It would pair pretty decent with a Screamin Demon bridge, hidden under a gold cover. The good thing about this set is when people marvel about your '62 SG, you can tell them the names of your pickups. The Sentient and SD are the most misunderstood pickups Seymour Duncan has to offer.

Or you could go for a set of Seth Lovers. That's always an excellent option.

No knowledge of Sentient... Will do some research... Have always imagined screaming demon as a metal pup from name but have buddies that love them...wish I could try all of them. Great thinking out of the box!


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[beaubrummels]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

sounds like you just said that a jazz neck and pgb would be a good place to start

This ...is exactly what is in my SG now. My P90 SG has wiring problems and I haven't had time to sort it out. Putting PGB / Jazz in my Standard SG gave me all the brights and cleans and thump of single P90s without the hum. And I can always roll the tone off slightly if too bright. (This setup still sounds clear with the tones rolled off)

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

This ...is exactly what is in my SG now. My P90 SG has wiring problems and I haven't had time to sort it out. Putting PGB / Jazz in my Standard SG gave me all the brights and cleans and thump of single P90s without the hum. And I can always roll the tone off slightly if too bright. (This setup still sounds clear with the tones rolled off)

Starting to think this may be the winner... Imagine there's relatively tight bass with PG to keep in from being too bright?

Also thinking about PG bridge with mean 90 neck... Sound like a workable combination?

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[Lewguitar]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Like everyone, all I can do is recommend my favorite pickups in a Gibson, or Gibson style, guitar.

So if it was mine, I’d go for either Antiquitys or Seth Lovers...maybe Pearly Gates.

If I went with Seth Lovers I’d probably remove the covers for a ballsier tone.

If I went with Antiquitys I’d probably leave the covers on.

I havent owned any P90’s in a humbucker size that I liked enough to keep.

Not a fan of the A5 Jazz. Too bright and hard sounding with my amps and playing style. Jolly used to use them, and maybe still does, and with his high gain Marshall tones they always sounded great to me. They don’t work for me tho.

I like the Jazz with Alnico 2 though, and that would be the Alnico II Pros. Same pickup with A2 instead of A5.

Guess I’m an Alnico 2 guy when it comes to humbuckers.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Thoughts about new pups for a 62 Les Paul SG

Like everyone, all I can do is recommend my favorite pickups in a Gibson, or Gibson style, guitar.

So if it was mine, I’d go for either Antiquitys or Seth Lovers...maybe Pearly Gates.

If I went with Seth Lovers I’d probably remove the covers for a ballsier tone.

If I went with Antiquitys I’d probably leave the covers on.

I havent owned any P90’s in a humbucker size that I liked enough to keep.

Not a fan of the A5 Jazz. Too bright and hard sounding with my amps and playing style. Jolly used to use them, and maybe still does, and with his high gain Marshall tones they always sounded great to me. They don’t work for me tho.

I like the Jazz with Alnico 2 though, and that would be the Alnico II Pros. Same pickup with A2 instead of A5.

Guess I’m an Alnico 2 guy when it comes to humbuckers.

Thanks Lew... I love Seths in the bridge... Clean, articulate, but capable handle medium crunch rather well.

Of course, the neck has similar characteristics, but in this case, I think i need more drive and warmth... Wondering if your variation in the jazz fits the bill?

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